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While I’m okay with my Georgia Bulldogs losing to a gritty Cal Bear team (virtual neighbors of mine, really) in overtime in the Western Regional Final of the NCAA Women’s Tournament last night, I could have done without the incessant cheerleading for Cal by the ESPN crew working the game. The Bears were pre-ordained as “the story” even when they were down by 10 points. Bloody MSM….

Let me calm down and offer you some mid-day news/views bites hot from the steam table:

* And then there were seven: Sen. Tom Carper the latest Democratic Senator to announce support for marriage equality, leaving 7 holdouts. As an added bonus, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois announced his support as well. If you are keeping score at home, that means 48 Democratic Senators and 2 Republicans are on board. Weigel predicts Bill Nelson most likely to be next.

* At TNR, John Judis argues economic recovery so fragile and shallow that he’s not leading any cheers for it.

* RCP’s Scott Conroy suggests Don Young’s latest gaffe probably won’t retire him any more than his last ten or eleven.

* Coals to Newcastle: Ted Cruz to headline major SC GOP event, which will also honor Jim DeMint. Expect some serious ranting and snarling.

And in non-political news:

* New frontiers in air travel: Air Samoa to charge passengers according to combined weight of baggage and their own selves.

Back after rounding up some additional blogging material.

Ed Kilgore
is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly. He is managing editor for The Democratic Strategist and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Find him on Twitter: @ed_kilgore.

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Comments

Barbara on April 02, 2013 1:45 PM:

I don't know if this is still true, but at one time the number of Samoans who play on NFL teams is greater on a per capita basis any other nationality. For some reason, Samoans are on average very big people.

max on April 02, 2013 1:55 PM:

The Bears were pre-ordained as “the story” even when they were down by 10 points. Bloody MSM .

Which is why 'neutral' announcers are annoying. They're never neutral - they want a story line, invariably good guy versus bad guy, with occasional lapses into making up two stories and getting all confused. (The ones I like best (NFL here) are the ones where they've got a pregame tale of sitting around admiring the awesomeness of the one team that is going to steam-roller the other, and suddenly the tale is totally reversed. Along about the middle of the third quarter, they wake up and notice. Then there's some long silent gaps.)

John Judis argues economic recovery so fragile and shallow that he’s not leading any cheers for it.

He's right.

RCP’s Scott Conroy suggests Don Young’s latest gaffe probably won’t retire him any more than his last ten or eleven.

And he too is correct.

Air Samoa to charge passengers according to combined weight of baggage and their own selves.

That actually makes sense - more weight, more fuel.

Back after rounding up some additional blogging material.

'Europe Upper Class Twit of the Decade competition in full throat, but Eurocrats confused about goal, gun usage, location of head.'

max
['But I vanted to shoot him in ze crotch!']

Sgt. Gym Bunny on April 02, 2013 2:08 PM:

Seconding Barbara.

If I believe the NFL stats, Samoans are all built like defensive lineman or something... I guess this airline would make a killing on flights to and from certain parts of the Deep South.

But I wonder whether airlines aren't planning the hauls based on an average range of weight for each flight anyway. I'm no airplane engineer but would the cost to operate each flight change significantly depending on the load?

At the end of the day, airlines operate by the number of seats sold. I really can't imagine airlines taxing flights that still have empty seats, no matter how many big-boned Samoans they might have aboard. (Unless they plan on removing seats...)

MuddyLee on April 02, 2013 2:28 PM:

A couple of years ago UCLA played South Carolina in the college baseball playoffs. UCLA was obviously the favorite of the guys doing the coverage, but South Carolina won the game anyway. Just because we're ignorant down here (and overweight) doesn't mean we can't recruit baseball players. We do this in spite of Jim DeMint and all the descendants of Strom Thurmond - and in spite of Mark Sanford and Nikki Haley. And, in spite of CAPTCHA.

katster on April 02, 2013 2:47 PM:

Tough loss, Ed.

That was a nice takedown of Stanford (they're really good) and if you'd been playing anybody else, I'd have rooted for your team. We played a lot of tight games this year, though, and that served us in good stead last night.

Wish we could have both be in the last four standing.

-kat, Cal alum and die hard Bears fan

Proudhon on April 02, 2013 3:47 PM:

Republicans have no problem with appropriations for brain research - that's not something that has anything at all to do with their constituency.

punaise on April 02, 2013 4:08 PM:

Go Bears!

(Berkeley resident)...

Mimikatz on April 02, 2013 5:50 PM:

Funny, my partner and I sitting here in the Home of the Bears kept complaining about the ESPN crew constantly focusing on Georgia, belittling the very taleented Cal coach for being alive the same number of years that the Georgia guy had been a head coach, and generally, as national sportscasters do, rooting for the Eastern team because they never stay up to watch the western teams play so don't know them. They only anointed Cal the favored team when they started their comeback, and even then kept trying to cheer the Georgians on.

exlibra on April 02, 2013 11:39 PM:

Air Samoa to charge passengers according to combined weight of baggage and their own selves.

I always thought that airlines should charge "per pound" (or kilo) of *total* weight (bag and "baggage") or, at the very least, charge "excess weight" not just for the bag, but for the bag's owner.

But I might not be entirely objective; I'm skinny (100-105lb), but have trouble deciding what *not* to take with me on a trip

Suddenly, it's in both parties' interests to fight the broader decline of marriage. Here's the case for a "marriage opportunity" agenda. By David Blankenhorn, William Galston, Jonathan Rauch, and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead